Let My Love Open the Door
by Xtina Jones
Summary: A series of post-2x09 one shots/snippets/vignettes etc. because like everyone else I can't help my self. Pretty much all focused around Mac/Will. From Installment 2: "When Will wakes up the morning after the election night broadcast, he's convinced that he's entered an alternate universe."
1. Worth the Wait

Obviously I had to do this. I have 3 to 5 to 100 random snippets of Mac/Will Post 2x09 floating around my head, so it's been difficult to nail any of them down and actually write them. This one made it to the page first. It's short but sweet and I hope you enjoy it. There will be more to come (if the muse allows). Let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Newsroom or the characters or the dialogue or any songs by The Who or Pete Townsend.

* * *

When the broadcast finally ends, Will immediately seeks out MacKenzie. He doesn't have to look very hard for her this time because they naturally, instinctually gravitate to each other.

"Good show tonight," he offers timidly as they stand in the hallway by the editing bay. He doesn't know why he feels like a middle schooler trying to talk to his crush right now, but his brain just can't seem to find the words that he wants to say. He's convinced he lost his powers of coherent speech sometime during Charlie's defiant rant in his office earlier this evening.

He shoves his hands deep into his pockets because he doesn't know what to do with them and he's afraid that if he doesn't clamp them down they're going to grab Mac by the waist, back her into the wall, and hold her there while he kisses her senseless. Again.

"Yeah, good show," Mac replies, smiling shyly up at him as she tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She crosses and uncrosses her arms several times as she fidgets in front of him. Apparently she doesn't know what to do with her hands either.

He thinks it's kind of funny that they're both being so shy and tentatively awkward about this but he also doesn't get it.

Mac stops darting her eyes at the wall and the floor and the end of the hall and the floor again, her eyes finally settling on him.

"Are we really engaged?" "Did you actually say yes?" they both blurt out at the same time.

Will feels the unnecessary apprehension between them evaporate as they both chuckle.

He frees his right hand from his pocket and reaches for her left hand which is now dangling at her side.

"Well, according to the sparkling gem currently sitting on your left ring finger," he says, raising Mac's hand between them and gently running his thumb along the silver band, "I think it's safe to assume that you are indeed betrothed. To a man of great wit and intelligence I might add."

Mac's eyes pull away from their hands and the ring to gaze up at him.

"So I can only _assume_ that I'm engaged then?"

Her smile is playful and her eyes sparkle with a mirth he has not seen in them for quite some time. He is so thankful that he figured out how to bring back that spark before it was forever lost to him.

"I think it's a pretty sure thing," he responds, his voice low as he draws her body toward him.

"Like a 'physical law of the universe' sure thing?" she whispers throatily, both hands pressed against his chest.

"Facts don't change," he breathes, cupping her face with one hand and wrapping her closer to him with the other.

He lowers his lips to hers in a soft, languid kiss.

MacKenzie's hands find their way around his neck as she leans into him and now he is the one pressed up against the wall. But he's not complaining.

They're too caught up in each other to hear the footsteps echoing from down the hall.

"_Seriously_ guys?!"

Mac jumps out of his arms and self-consciously smoothes her blouse and skirt while he stuffs his hands back into their pockets and averts his eyes to the floor. He knows that they're both blushing furiously and acting like a couple of high school teenagers caught necking by their parents, but he doesn't really care.

Sloan does though.

"The broadcast's been over for a grand total of like _five minutes_, and you two are _already_ macking on each other – no pun intended – like a pair of hormone-crazed adolescents?"

Sloan glares at them, her arms crossed as she waits for a response.

Mac looks over at him and shrugs, an unapologetic grin on her face. He grins back and shrugs sheepishly at Sloan.

Sloan rolls her eyes.

"If I wasn't so happy for the two of you I would be throwing up in my mouth right now. In fact I think I did a little bit. You're going to need to improve your discrete office PDA skills if you intend to keep this up for the rest of your careers."

"Says the woman who stormed into the control room and kissed Don in front of at least six people," Mac retorts smugly.

Sloan opens her mouth to argue back but she shuts it quickly.

"You have a point," she concedes.

"You _kissed_ Don?! Don _Keefer_?!" Will exclaims in shock.

It's Sloan's turn to blush now and stare at her feet.

"He – he did a nice thing and…it was a long time coming anyway and – wait. This isn't about me right now. It's about you two. Everyone's continuing the celebration out in the pen and you should probably make an appearance soon before someone else has to be permanently scarred by walking in on their bosses making out."

Sloan turns sharply on her heel and walks away before either of them can defend themselves or pester her more about Don.

Once she's rounded the corner Will looks at Mac and they both laugh.

"So, Sloan and Don?" he asks, entwining his hand in hers.

"Like she said, it was a long time coming," Mac replies as they start down the hall.

"Sounds like another couple I know," he comments, sliding his arm around her waist.

"Well if _someone_ would have removed his _head_ from his _arse_ a while ago…" Mac teases, leaning into him.

"I'm a slow learner. Plus isn't there some saying…'Good things come to those who wait' or…whatever?" he replies, gesturing in the air with his free hand.

"Patience has never been one of my virtues, Billy."

"But aren't you glad you waited this one out?" he asks, glancing down at her as they approach the doors to the pen.

Mac halts and he turns back.

"I've never been happier," she smiles tearfully at him.

He smiles back and kisses her once more before they step out into the party.


	2. Morning After Doubts

Thank you so much to everyone who followed, favorited, and/or reviewed this story, it pushed me to get this next installment up!

This piece is not related or connected to the first chapter (other than that both occur post 2x09).

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

* * *

When Will wakes up the morning after the election night broadcast, he's convinced that he's entered an alternate universe.

His first piece of evidence for this belief is the fact that he actually slept soundly through the night (well, what was left of the night by the time they got around to sleeping). His second piece of evidence is that the clock on his stand is currently flashing '9:27' and he _never_ sleeps in that late on a weekday.

The third and final piece of evidence is sprawled across his chest sound asleep with her hair splayed out over the sheets.

He does his best to stay extremely still and not wake her because he knows that she's been exhausted and worn down for months (probably years), and he knows that last night she had enough champagne for the both of them, and he knows that the next few days (probably weeks) at work (if they still _have_ jobs) are going to be hectic. But mostly he doesn't want to wake her because he's terrified that if he does she'll disappear and the last twenty-four hours of his life will have just been a long, torturous dream.

Yes, he spilled his heart to her last night and yes, he put a ring on her finger, but that doesn't reassure him that this is _real_. It doesn't convince him that waking up to MacKenzie Morgan McHale (now to be McAvoy) in his bed asleep on his chest is an experience that he deserves now or in the foreseeable future.

He quiets his breathing when the woman in question stirs slightly and mumbles something incoherent in her sleep. He watches enraptured as she tightens her hold on him and attempts to snuggle even further into his chest.

It's moments like these that he forgot about while they were apart. It's moments like these that remind him of how he loves her for every little thing that she does. It's moments like these that make his heart simultaneously burst and ache. He could have had millions more of these simple, precious moments in his life if they had just worked their shit out a long time ago. If he had just stopped shredding damn paper and let himself be happy.

So forgive him if he finds it hard to believe that this is happening right now, that MacKenzie Morgan McHale is in love with him and _engaged_ to him and in his bed.

He has to squeeze his eyes shut to hold back the salty sting of tears threatening behind his eyelids.

A sweet voice gruff with sleep catches his attention.

"Hmmm, good morning, Billy," it hums against his chest.

He freezes for a moment and blinks his eyes down at the top of her head. He waits a few seconds. She doesn't disappear. The tears spring forward.

"Billy?" her voice questions as she slowly lifts her head from his chest to look up at him.

Her hair is tousled and she is still blinking the sleep from her eyes, but he knows that she is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. She always will be.

"Hey," he whispers, trying to hide the crack in his voice.

"What's wrong?" she asks immediately, pushing herself up to lean on one arm.

Her eyes are alert now and he sees fear starting to creep into them.

He opens his mouth to speak but can't make the words come out so he snaps it shut.

"Will, you're scaring me. What's the matter?"

"I-I-I just…it's just that…_you're here_," he sighs.

"Oh, Billy. Of course I'm here. Where else would I be?" she asks, running her fingers softly through his hair.

"I don't know," he mutters, embarrassed by his perpetual insecurities. "I thought maybe last night was a…a fluke or something. That it wasn't real. That it _couldn't_ have been real. That maybe me waking up to you in my arms this morning was something my lonely, desperate mind dreamed up just to fuck with me."

Mac cocks her head to the side and looks down at him, her expression unreadable. Just when he thinks she isn't going to say or do anything and that he's already managed to fuck up their engagement after a mere eleven hours, she swings her legs over his waist, grabs his face in her hands, and plants a searing kiss on his lips.

"Was that real enough for you?" she purrs into his ear as she pulls away slowly and leaves him breathless.

When he doesn't respond right away because his brain is only capable of gazing up at her in lust and amazement, she smirks satisfactorily down at him.

"I think I'm beginning to be convinced," he finally gets out.

She gives him another cheeky grin but her eyes and smile quickly soften.

"In all seriousness, I want you to know something."

She's using her stern EP voice so he eases himself up into a sitting position but keeps her straddled across his legs.

"Do you see this ring?" she asks, holding her left hand up between them.

He nods. He sees it all right. He couldn't stop glancing at it on her finger all last night at the impromptu office party and he could only tear his eyes from it when they got home so that he could properly worship her body. Even then it kept catching his eye and making his heart lurch happily.

"It's not going anywhere and neither am I, _ever_. When I said 'yes' to you last night it wasn't a fluke. It wasn't a dream. It was real. My answer and my feelings for you are not going to change between now and when we get married."

She pauses and closes her eyes, taking in a deep breath. He cradles her hands in his and waits. When she opens her eyes again they're shining with tears.

"I know what it's like to be without you and to be in love with you but not be able to have you, and never _in my lifetime_ will I allow that to happen again. What you said last night when you proposed…it goes both ways. No matter what happens, there is no chance I am _ever_ gonna hurt you again. No matter what happens, I'm gonna be in love with you for the rest of my life, there's no way out of that, that's just a physical law of the universe. _You_ own _me_. I'm all in with you, Billy. That's a fact and facts don't change."

Her voice breaks toward the end of her declaration and tears stray from her eyes, but she speaks with such conviction that he unequivocally believes her and questions why he ever doubted this, why he ever doubted _her_.

When she finishes speaking he knows that he has never loved her more than he does right now. After last night he didn't think that was possible.

He responds in the only way that makes sense, with the words that she deserves to hear from him every day, the words that he should have been saying to her every day for six years.

"I love you," he states, brushing the tears from her cheeks.

She gives him a wide, watery smile and he tugs her forward onto his lap.

"I love you," he murmurs as he ghosts feather light kisses up her neck.

"I love you," he whispers into her ear before claiming her mouth with his own.

She eagerly complies as he rolls them over and they fall back onto the sheets.

* * *

An hour and several missed (blatantly ignored) phone calls from work later, she is sprawled across his chest again. He is absentmindedly running her silky hair through his fingers as her own fingers dance lightly along his chest.

"I can't believe you remembered my rambling, disjointed proposal word for word," he comments as his hand drifts to settle on her lower back.

He feels her body shake lightly as she laughs.

"It's hard to forget what the love of your life says to you when he proposes, even if he does start with some bizarre analogy and adorably stumbles his way through the rest of it," she teases, peeking up at him.

"In my defense, I'd never been more nervous in my life."

"I couldn't tell," she sarcastically responds.

"Hey! It's not every day a guy proposes to the love of his life in the middle of a news broadcast only an hour after the aforementioned love of his life threatened to hit him."

"Oh please, I wasn't _actually_ going to hit you."

He looks at her skeptically.

"Ok, so _maybe_ there was a _reasonable_ chance I was going to hit you, but I didn't, did I?"

"No," he concedes.

"And I said yes, didn't I?"

"Yes," he grins.

"Then I don't see what the problem is."

"There isn't a problem, dear," he laughs, tucking her hair behind her ear. "I thought it was…I didn't expect you to…I'm flattered that you remember it is all. As I tried to explain last night, I think I could've done a lot better if I had a second chance. I mean, I could have at least gone down on one knee. I can't believe I forgot that part. And I should've led up to it a bit better. I mean, what the hell was I thinking?"

"Will."

"There should've been rose petals and…fireworks. Yeah, fireworks! Or I should've asked you on air – no, you would've _hated_ that-"

"Will."

"Maybe sky-writing. That would have been cool. But it was the middle of the night so that wouldn't have worked…I could've–"

"Billy!"

He jolts back to reality and halts his rambling.

She is looking at him bemusedly.

"Sorry," he mutters sheepishly.

"You're a fool, did you know that?"

"If I'm a fool, then _you're_ the fool who's in love with a fool," he retorts.

She groans exasperatedly.

"You know you wouldn't have it any other way," he insists.

"You're right, I wouldn't."

* * *

So there was some post 2x09 angst mixed with lots and lots of fluff! Hope you all liked that one. I'm not sure which idea of mine I'll post next, but it will hopefully be up by the weekend if not sooner. Drop a review if you feel so inclined!


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